Measles is back in Spain. The increase in cases is linked to unvaccinated migrants from Romania and Morocco
The return of measles in Spain is fueled by cases imported from Morocco and Romania, amid insufficient vaccination and vulnerabilities in the immunization system, experts warn.
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They noticed “weak points” in terms of vaccination, related to the age at which the first dose is administered and insufficient vaccination coverage, which does not reach the 95% threshold required for group immunity, writes the Spanish press.
In Spain, coverage for the first dose is 96.65%, but for the second dose it drops to 91.75%, with regional variations that leave some vulnerabilities. One example cited is the outbreak in France, where numerous cases affected people vaccinated according to the full schedule but who had received the first dose too early, reducing efficacy to 60–83%.
José Gómez Rial, spokesman for the Spanish Society of Immunology, explains that maternal antibodies neutralize the vaccine in infants under 12 months.
Importation of cases from endemic areas
This resurgence of measles in Europe and Spain is largely attributed to uncontrolled immigration, which facilitates the importation of cases from regions where the disease is endemic.
Health sources, including the Ministry of Health and the Spanish Pediatric Association, point out that countries such as Morocco — with more than 40,000 cases and 150 deaths by 2023 — and Romania are the main sources of imported cases.
By 2025, it is estimated that up to 80% of cases imported into Spain will come from Morocco, fueled by massive migrations such as Operation “Crossing the Straits”but also by the immigrant communities in these countries.
Cases in Spain up 43%
The experts of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases state that “the main factor in the increase in measles cases is migration”. In Spain, the number of cases increased by 43% in the first months of 2025 compared to the total of 2024, with outbreaks in Andalusia, the Basque Country and Catalonia, many linked to imported cases.
Massive immigration from regions with low vaccination rates is exacerbating the situation, allowing the virus to find vulnerable groups despite high coverage among the native population.
Health officials are warning of a “real risk of re-introduction” of the disease and are tightening border controls, but insist surveillance must be stepped up in the face of uncontrolled immigration threatening European health progress.
